India launches nuclear submarine

[Cruelbreed]

India launches nuclear submarine

Story Highlights
Prime minister hails his country's first locally built nuclear-powered sub
He calls sub an outcome of a public-private partnership, thanks Russia
He also insists that sub launch reflects no aggressive plans by India
By Harmeet Shah Singh
CNN
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the country's first locally built nuclear-powered submarine on Sunday.

"Today, we join a select group of five nations who possess the capability to build a nuclear-powered submarine," Singh declared in his speech at the eastern naval base of Visakhapatnam.

Although he billed the submarine as an outcome of a public-private partnership, the Indian leader did mention Russia in his address.

"I would also like to express our appreciation to our Russian friends for their consistent and invaluable cooperation, which symbolizes the close strategic partnership that we enjoy with Russia," Singh remarked.

Nonetheless, he called for leveraging the strengths of India's private industry for defense goals.

Singh, however, insisted the submarine launch reflected no aggressive plans by his country.

"We do not have any aggressive designs, nor do we seek to threaten anyone. We seek an external environment in our region and beyond that is conducive to our peaceful development and the protection of our value systems," Singh said.

The launch came 11 years after internationally condemned tit-for-tat nuclear tests -- first by India and then by Pakistan -- in May 1998.
All AboutIndia • Manmohan Singh • Russia





Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/26/india.nuclear.submarine/index.html

[ghost]

Hmm. This will be interesting. I wonder how China and Russia feel about this.

[Cruelbreed]

Hmm. This will be interesting. I wonder how China and Russia feel about this.

lol I know India doesn't care what either of them think i'm sure :P I'm pretty sure Russia helped them build it as with a lot of the Indian and even Chinese tech

[ghost]

lol I know India doesn't care what either of them think i'm sure :P I'm pretty sure Russia helped them build it as with a lot of the Indian and even Chinese tech


This is true. But, it seems like it could get pretty interesting.

[Reactor-Axe-Man]

God help them if they're using a Russian design... Russians emphasize performance above all else, especially safety and reliability.

[bobdina]

They built it because they had leased a Russian sub (they lease 4 now) and on the way to India either 2 or 4 men died in an accident. I will try and look up the article if I can find it.

this one is unrelated thought you'd like it anyhow

MOSCOW - A Russian nuclear submarine in which 20 died in a toxic gas accident will be leased to India later this year, Interfax news agency reported June 10, citing a Russian military source.

"Immediately after the completion of all tests, the vessel will be given to the active-duty fleet of the Russian navy, after which its handover under lease to our Indian partners will take place," he was quoted as saying.

"This is expected to take place before the end of this year," he told Interfax, which identified him as a source in the Russian naval command. A navy spokesman declined to confirm the report.

The vessel in question is the attack submarine Nerpa, which was undergoing trials in the Sea of Japan in November when it suffered an accident that killed 20 sailors and shipyard workers and injured 22, Interfax said.

The accident - in which the submarine's fire-fighting system went off, filling it with a toxic gas - was the latest in a string of tragedies to hit Russia's submarine fleet in recent years.

State media said at the time that the Nerpa was to be delivered to India, under a deal in which New Delhi would pay Moscow two billion dollars for two submarines with an option to buy them when the lease runs out.

[Reactor-Axe-Man]

I attribute the heavy loss of life on the Nerpa not due primarily to mechanical flaw, but to one of training. (See my comment elsewhere on the latest Russian boat. All that sweet sweet gear, run by two-year conscripts.)

You see, one of the first things I learned on the boat was the EAB system (Emergency Air Breathing) - its a ship-wide manifold of 100# clean air for breathing during fires and toxic spills. You have to know where all the manifold connections are, where to find breathing masks to plug into the manifolds, and how to properly wear the masks and get around in them. The masks have a buddy connection, so you can have more than four guys plugged in at a manifold (which typically has four connections). If you unplug from the manifold, or the guy at the head of your your daisy chain unplugs, you will be sucking nothing but rubber. You must hold your breath between manifolds. As a training method, groups of nubs would be daisy chained together and sent around the boat. This method ensures teamwork (the leader warns his chain before he unplugs so they can all take a breath), and you will damn sure know where the manifolds are after nearly suffocating trying to find them!

If a fire breaks out, and you are the one who discovers it, your first response is to sound the alarm. Your second response to get an EAB on. Then you can fight the fire/rig the space. If you are on watch in a controlling space (Control or Maneuvering), you get your mask on first as soon as a fire is called away, no matter where the fire is.

Now I don't know for certain what the Russians have that would be the equivalent to the EAB system, but I do know that they likely had something. That 20 people died is because those 20 people did not know what to do in the event of a halon release, did not know where breathing apparatus were located, and probably did not know how to use them if they did. That is a training issue, pure and simple. That is Russia's weakness. Why they fail time and time again. Their subs are great, their fighters kick ass, their tanks are good - but none of it matters 'cause the submariners are mostly two-years-and-out conscripts, their pilots never get any flight hours, and their tankers are also just conscripts.